Take the long view. (Credit: Lance Ulanoff)
CES half-life
CES kicks off this week in Las Vegas and virtually but the balance between those two entities has shifted dramatically in recent weeks. The Omicron surge led to dozens of companies pulling out of in-person booths and meetings and CES shortening the event by a full day.
I thought I was going until just a couple of weeks ago. However, now I’m covering from my desk like virtually every other major tech media outlet.
It’s frustrating and unfortunate (and I still wonder if it’s time to rethink the whole event), but that doesn’t mean CES 2022 is a bust. Far from it. Companies have been teasing out products and innovations for weeks, and that trickle is about to become a flood.
I’ll miss all the hands-ons and know that serendipitous floor discoveries are gone, but I still have high hopes for some cool announcements. Be sure to watch my Twitter and TechRadar for a flurry of updates.
Light me up
Is it just me or do LED light bulbs burn out more quickly than incandescents? I’ve been bugged by this issue for years, especially after I migrated my home from mostly incandescents to CFL (fluorescents), and now LEDs.
I still have some incandescents in my home, mostly in high hats, but a few old-school bulbs in a room here and there. I also have a small collection of fluorescents. Those bulbs last longer than any other bulb technology but were phased out by the lighting industry because each bulb contains harmful mercury.
I happily switched to LEDs because, like fluorescents, they sip energy while still providing comparable brightness. They do have their issues, like harsh brightness, and compatibly problems with dimmer switches.
The big issue, though, is they rarely last more than a year or two. I have incandescent spotlights and floodlights that have lasted for a dozen or more years and fluorescents that match or outdo that longevity. Granted, fluorescents often grow dimmer over time, but it’s so gradual that I usually didn’t notice until I replaced them.
LEDs just stop working. There’s no warning and it happens way too early in their life-cycle. The thing is the solid-state technology should let them last far longer (the packaging often claims years of use–my box of Sylvania LEDs promises 10-22 years!) than either CFLs or incandescents. Some reports point to bad dimmer switches and even old wiring as the culprits. Really? My theory, though, is that the industry builds these bulbs with a limited lifespan to ensure a steady cycle of fresh bulb sales.
Now I regularly buy 4-packs of LEDs and wonder why no one is calling the lighting industry on this.
Internet Time Machine
The Internet is always changing, though much of it happens in the shadows. Minor sites rise and fall, domains change hands, and most of us forget the digital places we used to haunt back in the day.
I got a nice dose of Internet nostalgia, though, from my good friend and coworker Jeremy Kaplan who posted a link to a story I helped manage in the aughts called “Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites.” What a blast from the past.
I was stunned to see so many once-beloved sites like “hard to find 800 Numbers,” and the wine aficionado site “Corkd” gone, as is WhoIsSick, which might’ve come in handy right about now. Others survived but haven’t been updated in ages. Some, like Top Secret Recipes and Firstshowing.net, have thrived. I also found it interesting the EXPN, an ESPN offshoot for extreme games became Xgames.
Which classic websites do you miss?
Happy New Year
It’s 2022, another 12 months of opportunities to make the world a better place. It’s also the start of a whole new parade of technology. CES (see above) is just the beginning. Throughout the year, I’m expecting big things from Samsung, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Meta, and more. Wonder how many product rollouts will be virtual and how many will be in person.
Stay safe
See you soon